Aggregator

Let's say we wanted to query Active Directory and print out a report of all of our users, and their last logon time. That seems like a pretty normal task for a Powershell script. It'd probably be short and easy to read, at least if it were written by a normal person.

Alice sends us one that wasn't. She's already done us a favor, as she writes: "Code cleaned up and indented for the whitespace-missing-impaired."

##################################### # lists accounts and selected attributes alphabetically ##################################### foreach( $letter in "a", "b", "c"......"z") { $strfilter = $letter + "*" $objdomain = New-object System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry $objSearcher = New-object System.DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher $objSearcher.SearchRoot = $objdomain $objSearcher.Filter = $strFilter $objSearcher.PropertiesToLoad.Add("name"); $colResults = $objSearcher.FindAll() foreach($result in $colResults) { $name = $result.Properties.Name $searcher = New-Object DirectoryServices.DirectorySearcher([adsi]"") $searcher.filter "(&(objectCategory=User)(sAMAccountName=$name))" $users = searcher.FindAll() foreach($user in $users) { Write-Output $user.properties.item("name") + "," + $user.properties.item("lastLogon") } } }

This accomplishes sorting alphabetically by iterating across the alphabet. Which, I suspect, isn't going to actually get them in alphabetical order; it makes sure that albert and alice appear before bob, but doesn't enforce that albert must come before alice.

In any case, we iterate across the alphabet, and then create a searcher that finds a*, then b*, etc. We explicitly tell the searcher that the only property we care about is the name field, so that we don't load unnecessary fields, like the ones we want to report on.

We then iterate across the list of names, construct a new searcher, and search for the account with the username we fetched. That lets us get all of the fields we need, including the ones we aren't going to use.

Now, we search for a username, so we expect there to only be one result, but since searcher.FindAll() returns an array, we "need" to write a loop to iterate across the array of one, which is clearly a better choice than using the FindOne function.

As it usually goes with these sorts of things, one of the managers absolutely adores the fact that they have an easy way to generate a CSV file that they can manipulate in Excel, so this terrible script is "mission critical".

.comment {border: none;} [Advertisement] Picking up NuGet is easy. Getting good at it takes time. Download our guide to learn the best practice of NuGet for the Enterprise.

A growing number of lenders are enabling buyers to borrow more than 4.5 times their income so long as they can prove they can afford the monthly repayments.

Rail passengers face delays and cancellations this morning as a points failure disrupts services through Colchester.

A slew of A-list stars descended upon the red carpet for the 2026 Emmy Awards, and there were some seriously wild and memorable fashion fails.

Woodley's rare fashion miss comes just days after her ex-fiance Aaron Rodgers sensationally claimed that she asked to 'go f***' another man before getting married.

Noah Wyle was cheered on by his ER castmate Julianna Margulies as he scored his third Emmy win for his work on The Pitt.

Some 28 per cent of UK adults are now in favour of bringing 1,200 years of monarchy in the country to an end - a figure rising to 38 per cent among 18 to 24-year-olds, according to the poll for Channel 4.

Curtis, 67, wept as she remembered the late actor-director and his spouse Michele to conclude the In Memoriam segment at the ceremony.

Britain must leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in order to stem the flow of illegal migration, the Conservatives and Reform claimed on Monday.

With tuition fees in the region of £9,790 a year and annual living expenses reaching around £14,000, university life is far from inexpensive. One of these cars should be a cheap option.

Smeg has launched its first air fryer, but is the £199.95 kitchen device worth the hype? Charlotte Vossen puts it to the test.

I have a simple mirror will with my wife. How can I ensure that she provides for her son and stepson equally after my death. Both sons are adults and married.

It was also said that the branch was "fabricating" its records

Cupertino's $2,000 foldable gives devs more screen, and more UI state to manage

Emmy fans were left stunned after learning of Sheryl Lee Ralph's age as the actress looked incredibly youthful while attending the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards in L.A. on Monday.

Zendaya and Tom Holland looked smitten as they attended the 2026 Emmys together - months after their surprise wedding.

Dad-to-be Jon Hamm proudly posed with his pregnant wife Anna Osceola, 38, as the pair attended the Emmys 2026, weeks after their baby joy was revealed.

Mariska Hargitay made the 2026 Emmys a family affair on Monday as she brought her entire family to the red carpet, ahead of her hotly anticipated hosting gig.

Prince Harry appears to have won a victory with the Home Office reportedly deciding to have another look at whether he deserves British-funded round-the-clock police protection now he is home

Reuters reports: A defense lawyer appealing his client's murder conviction submitted a brief containing made-up police testimony and witnesses fabricated by OpenAI's ChatGPT, New Mexico's highest court said. The New Mexico Supreme Court on Wednesday fined the attorney, Stephen Aarons [for $5,000], and held him in contempt for failing to verify the accuracy of the court filing, which Aarons said he prepared with help from the AI program... and said they will refer him to an attorney disciplinary board for investigation. Aarons in a statement to Reuters said he had used ChatGPT to summarize the trial proceedings when he agreed to take up the defendant's appeal last year, and did not understand the degree to which AI could "hallucinate" facts. "I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake," he said.... Dozens of lawyers have been sanctioned for filing briefs where AI made up case citations or misquoted the law. Aarons' filing appears to have gone further, containing fabricated witness testimony in a criminal appeal... Aarons told the court at an August 21 hearing that he fed a computer-generated transcript and other case materials to ChatGPT, presuming it would generate "a bulletproof summary." The justices sounded incredulous that Aarons was not fully aware of how AI can make mistakes. "Counsel, do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?" Justice C. Shannon Bacon said at the hearing. "Because the problem with lawyers relying on AI hallucinations is an above-the-fold story every single day." "OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.